Huntsman shuts down US cracker for planned maintenance

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Huntsman has shut down its Port Neches cracker in Texas for planned maintenance, the company said on Tuesday.

The 193,000 tonne/year plant is expected to be off line for 45 days, according to information in the market.

The US has a second cracker scheduled to go down in the next few days, as Westlake Chemical is expected to begin a 50-day turnaround at its 699,000 tonne/year Petro 2 cracker in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The shutdown, which was originally planned for the fourth quarter of 2012, includes an expansion that will raise capacity at the unit by 230m-240m lb/year (104,000-109,000 tonnes/year).